Page 78 of Trust and Obey

The doorman rattled off a four-digit code. I took it in, numbly. Then he opened the door for me and gestured me in as if I were royalty.

Bemused, I crossed a luxurious marble floored lobby and went to the elevator.

I passed an older looking woman on the way. She stopped, doing a legitimate double take.

Inside, I cringed. Well, it had to happen sometime. I had been recognized.

“Kendall Langston?” she asked.

It was the unexpected warmth in her voice that stopped me from brushing past her. I took a second glance at her and realized that she seemed familiar. It was the shade of her bright blue eyes. The same eyes I had been thinking about all week while I had missed Deacon.

Before I could react, the woman held out her hand. “It is you. You won’t remember me, I’m Betty Helman. We met a few times when you were a child.”

The memory came back to me with a shock. People and events I hadn’t thought about in years—so distant that they might as well have belonged to somebody else: Myself, bored and itching to go somewhere else while my mom laughed and chatted with a few of her lady friends. I had been a very young teenager, maybe thirteen or fourteen years old at the most, and in an emo phase. All I wanted was for my mom to finish her gossiping so she could drive me down to the skateboard park like she had promised.

That had been before my dad was arrested, of course.

Oh, what I wouldn’t give to have some of those moments back.

“Mrs. Helman,” I repeated, surprised. “I do remember you. You often had lunch with my mother, Alice.”

Mrs. Helman smiled and stepped forward, looking left and right down the lobby as if to make sure that no one was listening. We were alone.

“It’s so good to see you again, Kendall,” she said with genuine kindness. “You’ve grown into such a handsome man.”

I blushed. “Thank you.”

“Let’s catch up later sometime. I would love to hear how your mother is doing.”

“Oh… Well, I—”

“In the meantime,” she said before I could form some sort of excuse, “I wish you the best luck with my son.”

And then she winked.

My jaw practically hit the floor. She chuckled to herself, patting my cheek sweetly, before she turned and walked away.

I watched her go, shocked and amused in equal parts, then shaking myself out of the moment, I headed for the elevator.

I entered the code the door man had given me. With a lurch, the elevator took me up.

I stared at my distorted reflection in the elevator surface. I was pale but determined. I clenched my jaw and nodded once to myself.

No matter what happened next, I was determined to say my piece. Maybe Deacon just wanted to yell at me in person. That was fine. I was good at out-talking somebody.

Okay Kendall, I told myself sternly, you have one shot at this. Game face on. And… Go.

The elevator dinged open.

It let out straight into Deacon’s penthouse suite, which was a fact I noticed only in the back of my mind. Because standing not ten feet away, was Deacon.

He looked gorgeous, dressed in black slacks and a trim button-down shirt that had to be tailored.

He opened his mouth to say something, but I knew if I was going to have any chance, I had to do this now.

“Let me explain,” I marched right up to him. “Deacon, I know you’re still angry with me, and I don’t blame you. I should have told you who I was the moment I figured it out. No, I didn’t know we were connected at first. But that doesn’t excuse the fact that I kept vital information from you. I just—I couldn’t stand the thought of hurting you. But, Deacon, you have to know that I had nothing to do with my father’s crimes. My mother and I—the first time we ever heard about it was the day the FBI kicked in our doors and hauled my dad away. We were horrified when we found out what he had done, and how many futures he’d destroyed. And—and, I’m sorry. I’m so damn sorry for keeping all this from you, and the pain that my father caused, and… the pain that I caused—”

Without another word, Deacon pulled me into his arms.

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